I did my first beef short ribs yesterday morning. It was going to be 80 degrees here in the afternoon & I had made plans to go motorcycle riding in the afternoon with some friends, so I got up at 4 am, prepped everything & had the meat in the smoker on 250 by 5 am. I was a little worried, as I had heard how tough short ribs can be, so my plan was for a 3-2-1, which I hoped would make them a little more tender. Well, they were PLENTY tender. Just grab a bone, pull & they came right apart! I smoked them with hickory for 3 hours, wrapped them up in a pan (bone side down) & put in a mixture of Pepsi, honey, spray butter & apple juice. Then I got to work on the potatoes (twice baked). Got them all ready & put them in with the ribs. At this point I added peach wood, for the potatoes, as we just seem to like that better with them. After the ribs were in the foil for a couple of hours I got them unwrapped & put them on the top (coolest) rack, because they were already looking a little TOO tender. I also moved the potatoes to a little hotter rack. Everything was ready right on schedule at 6 hours in, but I believe had I started the potatoes a little earlier, I may have been able to wrap the whole cook up in closer to five. I made my homemade BBQ sauce & served it on the side.

The two bigger pieces are with my regular beef rub, the smaller one is with a Jim Beam rub the wife brought home from work. I agreed to give it a try, but I liked my rub better.

I was a little apprehensive about the beefs, as I never did them before, but it worked out pretty good. Way more tender than I expected & maybe even a little overcooked, but perfect for grabbing the bone & pulling'em out. I liked'em ok, but I still prefer my ribs made of fine swine. The wife however, liked them more than I did, so I'm sure this is not the last I'm going to see of'em.